THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF POTTERY (Pottery, for artists)
CHAPTER XVI THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF POTTERY "The principal point in Education is that one's knowledge of the World begins at the right End." SCHOPENHAUER. THE study of the fictile art of the potter, even from the theoretical side alone, cannot fail to quicken and broaden education. The antiquity of the craft, stimulating research amongst the records of ancient civilizations, brings to light customs and habits bearing very closely upon the earliest struggles of man to emancipate himself from mere brute sur- roundings. The primitive decorations rudely scratched on clay vessels antedate and forecast the hieroglyphic and sign languages of all nations. It would be but hyperbole to claim that without clay the Mosaic tablets would have remained un- written, but indubitably the clay cylinders of Assyria gave a strong impulse to the development of cipher- ing and writing and the spread of learning, an im- petus not to be derived from the obstinate granite medium so generally employed by the Egyp- tians. It is this amenable ductile quality, so easily 170 171 receptive of the most emotional touch, that has made and still makes clay such an admirable medium of expression for the young, whether young in the his- tory of the world or young in actual years. And this malleability is accompanied by a tenacity that permits slow building up, remodelling, and high finish, suitable to work of the most painstaking character. To this is added the fixed, unalterable quality imparted by fire, so that pottery more than any other craft preserves an imperishable record of the ages. This positive chronicle is valuable alike to the savant or the student. Indeed the most trivial child's toys of the Hellenes, the quaint water pots of the Peruvian peasant, or the unassuming tea bowl of the esoteric followers of Riku may chance to convey to the sincere student a clearer idea of the habits and thoughts of their producers than many a pedantic treatise or translation. " So lively shines In them Divine resemblance and such grace The hand that made them on their shape hath poured." MILTON. Coming down to points in close contact with the curricula of schools, we all subscribe to the dic- tum of Ruskin that "Everyone, from the King's son downwards, should learn to do something finely and thoroughly with his hands." What then more 172 suitable than sympathetic clay wherein to fashion the first fancies of the child mind. It is a medium at once attractive and easy to mould, giving a tangi- bility and reality to forms and things that can never be obtained by drawing or painting. Then the limit- less uses to which clay is put, and, with the develop- ment of hygiene, increasingly will be put, have the closest bearing upon the everyday life of the child. They are intimately connected with other studies that cannot fail to be rendered more attractive by working in clay. But clay work is a branch now so universal that it seems unnecessary to dwell upon its advantages to the kindergartener. The valuable remedial effects of clay work upon the defective are perhaps less widely known. The manipulation induces a most beneficial concentra- tion and provides a fine discipline without a trace of inimical restraint. Turning to higher grades, the use of clays should foster an interest in the forma- tion, composition, and disintegration of rocks, and in the properties of the products so engendered; in short, a liking for geology. With the making of simple glazes and colours will awaken an intelligent curiosity concerning the nature of minerals and metals, their actions and reactions in the fire ; a lively sympathy only awaiting a touch to turn it into a love for chemistry and 173 physics. Then as power and ambition and crafts- manship develop, there must needs be a study of the history of ornament. This impinges too closely upon history and geography to fail to increase the student's attraction towards these more remote but allied fields. Finally, is it not in the realm of aesthetics that there looms the ultimate reward ? The proper pursuit of pottery must eventually lead us "towards that idealization of daily life . . . and the road that connects the love of the beautiful with the love of the good is short and smooth " (President Eliot). In the hurried curricula of to-day art plays a rather sorry part. Little time indeed is left for contempla- tion, for the realization of all that beauty and har- mony in our surroundings may mean to us in our everyday work. The making of a bowl, with the concentration required to shape it in a manner at once beautiful and serviceable, must quicken the perception of beauty and sharpen the quality of judgement, not only for things fictile, but in far wider fields. Thus the things of everyday contact the tableware, the chairs, the doors, the windows, pictures, ornaments, hangings, and fittings will all come in for intelligent scrutiny and criticism. This in turn will be carried on and over into matters civic. This must result in a careful estimation, selection, and appreciation 174 of our surroundings, bringing them into harmony with our cultivated thoughts and so enabling us to get through the day's work with the least amount of useless friction and with the greatest possible measure of enjoyment, well-being, and well-doing. TLAN-OF ASMALL 176 Categoría:Pottery, for artists, craftsmen & teachers